by Charles Dean
“Well, that’s helpful.” Nathan pointed to a hand-written sign that had been scrawled on the wall next to the door directly across from them. It had an arrow that pointed to the left and a message that said, “Stairs to higher floors.”
“Yeah, a little too helpful,” Dan muttered. But even if he was suspicious of the advice, he turned to the left and headed down the hallway.
“What floor do you think he’s on?” Grispino asked, finally talking again after his earlier tragedy. “My bet? He’s on the third. There is no way he’s just sitting on the top floor waiting in some evil lair for us. From what I’ve heard, this guy is wily.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard he’s crazy-smart and crazy-evil,” Nathan agreed with a bit of fear and awe in his voice. “He can say things to really mess with people. I heard it only took him a minute to make one dude go completely insane and start second-guessing his own existence. He’s just an NPC, but I’ve heard players who fought him in Hesse say it’s like looking into some super AI demon that can unravel your mind.”
“Don’t make up stuff to scare the ladies,” Dan scoffed. “He’s just a regular boss, just like any other. We’re going to kill him just like any other boss, so don’t let his legend get under your skin.”
Nathan shook his head ruefully. “You’re just saying that ‘cause you didn’t see what happened earlier. I did. We had him outnumbered and surrounded, and within a few minutes . . . All he did was make a small speech, and everyone started to jump ship to defend him. He split parties and guilds right down the middle. Every last female NPC joined his side, and I even heard one dude’s girlfriend left him to die just so that she could help keep Lucas alive instead. He’s evil, wicked smart, and he’s got a way to get under everyone’s skin and into their minds. You think he’s another bad guy? He’s not. He’s the devil himself.”
“. . . How the hell do you lose your girlfriend to an NPC?” Dan asked in shock as he opened up the door to the stairway. “I mean, that relationship could not have been on good grounds anyway. There is no way that happened, and if it did, then she was probably just using the NPC as an excuse to leave a crappy lover.”
“I was there, man. You should have seen it. He made a few men burst into tears with just his words before the fight began,” Nathan insisted. “Anyway, go on in, man. We gotta start climbing the floors.”
“No can do,” Dan said, gesturing toward the open door for Nathan to see. Liu also peeked through. There, where a large staircase going up should have been, was five floors’ worth of rubble piled up, blocking anyone from even entering the door labeled “stairs.” “Your crazy-smart bad guy took out our way to the top.”
“Him--or someone who wants the prize for themselves,” Nathan said. “Anyway, what do we do now?”
“We can check rooms and see if there is another way up. Maybe we can find something to make into a rope or a ladder or something. If nothing else, we can always try and climb up the outside of the building,” Grispino suggested, clearly having forgotten the golden gamer rule of always bringing a rope.
“Not a bad idea. Let’s start there. We can also try to find someone with a clue as to how to get up. There is no way he’d just break the stairs without making a second route up,” Dan said, turning around and opening the closest door. Sure enough, the room across the hall contained a large pile of ropes coiled neatly between two massive 150-pound hounds that Liu had never seen before, each of which was snarling at Dan.
“This is a computer-generated dungeon, so we can definitely use those ropes to make it to a higher level,” Grispino said. He stepped into the room and then looked back at Nick as if expecting him to join him. “There’s no way the game would put them here with a set of guards if they were completely worthless. Let’s do this!”
“He’s not really a high level yet,” Liu said, making up a quick excuse for Nick and pulling him back before the eager Dark Knight could rush ahead to join Grispino. “We’ll help from back here with ranged attacks and heals, and we won’t take too much of your prize when we make it to the top. So . . . please forgive us.” Liu gave her winningest smile and hoped that no one saw through her lie. She had no intention of letting them leave this fight alive and every intention to quite literally stab them in the back the moment the fight broke out.
“Fair enough,” Dan said with a frown. He walked forward until he was just behind Grispino and then began channeling a spell. Nathan joined him as well, and the trio advanced a step.
The hounds didn’t move as the players edged forward, and Liu wondered what was going on. Then, all of a sudden, a clicking sound echoed off the walls of the room and the front half of the floor opened up beneath the three players. Dan didn’t even have a chance to scream as he and his three companions fell through the trick floor to a quick and painful death by impalement on dozens of very thin, very sharp metal spikes.
“What the hell was that?” Nick said as he looked through the door into the spiked pit below.
“That was one life you owe me,” Liu said, patting Nick on the back. She hadn’t actually anticipated that outcome, but she was going to take credit for it.
Viola peered through the open doorway and down into the trap where at least twenty other people had been impaled on the spikes. The bodies hadn’t disappeared despite the players’ respawns, and they were very slowly sliding further downward as if to make room for more along the top. “You know, I really prefer being on the other side of one of these dungeons, sitting in the boss room, comfortably waiting for the enemies. This side is much less desirable.”
“Well, whatever the way up is, it’s not that rope. Let’s go check the other rooms,” Liu said, turning around and looking down the hallway. There were at least thirty different rooms for them to check, and each likely just as deadly an experience as the one they had just closed the door to. She hated to admit it because she had always wanted to try the game from an adventurer’s perspective, but Viola was right. Considering which of thirty different avenues likely lead to death really made her miss being on the other side.
With that in mind, Liu led the group back down the hallway, opening doors on the left and right as they went. Some of the doors had people on the other side of them, people minding their own business as if Liu and her group were breaking into an apartment building and not a dungeon, and others contained a chest. There were even two more that were almost identical to the first, but Liu didn’t enter any of them. If there wasn’t a clear way up, she wasn’t going to take a step forward into any one of those rooms. That was a death she didn’t want to go through. No matter how tempting a treasure chest was, she knew the guy who made the dungeon, and there was no reason to risk dying over it.
Two rooms, which Liu made sure to note, were filled with nothing but spikes and had at least three or four bodies impaled on them, letting Liu know that the floor above them was likely a trap like the one that killed Dan’s crew. She knew that if she didn’t keep a clear map in her head of which was which and a rough idea of where they were located, she still stood a good chance of stumbling into them once they finally made it up a floor. Finally, after exploring almost every room along the hallway, she opened a door to reveal a large room with a massive hole in the ceiling and a rope ladder leading up to the floor above.
“Looks like we found our way up,” Liu said. She was still hesitant to enter, however, and the litany of corpses on the floor gave her more than enough reason to be wary.
“Well then, let’s go,” Nick said. He threw his shield on his back, pushed into the room, and grabbed the rope ladder without hesitation. “Lucas is probably going through some tough fights at the top and needs our help. We need to get up there quick.”
“Wait, you’re coming up to help Lucas?” a cute and peppy voice asked from above.
“Of course, I am,” Nick said, looking up at the woman, who had popped her head into the hole. “I’m his first knight. I have to reach him and protect him.”
Liu wasn’t one to put much sto
ck in such a thing as love at first sight--she had never met a man who captured her heart that way--but as she watched Nick’s face shift from stern and serious to that of a melted-heart, innocent goober of a puppy dog, she knew that’s exactly what she was watching. It was love at first sight, and Nick had instantly fallen for whatever enchantress was on the other end of that ladder.
“First Knight? I don’t remember any ‘First Knight,’” another voice above them said, this one likely belonging to a much older woman by the sound of it.
“No, that’s Nick. I recognize him. He always takes all the damage for Lucas. He’s definitely with the lord of the dungeon. I fought him once in Hesse. He’s . . . umm, yeah. We should just let him through,” a third, slightly-squeaky female voice said.
“Well, you can come up now,” the mature woman said.
But Nick remained where he was, halfway up the ladder.
Liu walked forward to see what was going on. The hole was large enough to fit an elephant through, and as she walked deeper into the room, she could clearly see the three women, an elder Alfar and two young Humans. One of them was just your regular blonde-haired, blue-eyed Germanic type, but the other was a ridiculously cute, green-eyed brunette.
I can definitely see why he’s so smitten, but seriously? Liu was suddenly incredibly frustrated--not just because Nick was holding them up but because her plan to pawn Bonnie off on Nick would go to hell if he started chasing another woman. She took out her weapon and poked Nick in the back, prompting him to yelp in pain. “Weren’t you in a rush?” Liu asked crossly.
Nick jerked around, looking incredibly angry and hurt by Liu’s action, but he calmed down almost instantly when he realized why she had stabbed him. “Ah. Yeah. Right.”
“You noobs aren’t going anywhere,” a voice came from the doorway. “The bounty is ours!”
Liu spun around and found a Were-Bear wielding a two-handed fauchard, a weapon akin to a polearm, and a team of six others funneling into the room. The first three through the door were the melee fighters, a sword-and-shield-carrying Were-Rat, a dual-short sword-wielding Dokkalfar, and a maul-wielding Orc.
Thrust of Dignity! Liu shouted out the name of the attack in her head and channeled the move as quickly as she could. She was still in the habit of not only performing the attack but also chanting the words, and it was a hard one to break after so long. The powerful thrust only took a moment to charge, and a second later she was barreling toward the Orc. She didn’t pick him because he looked like the most vulnerable--although he did--but rather because he was the farthest enemy from her, and her attack’s damage depended on her speed. The farther she was from a foe, the easier it was to build speed and reach the move’s full potential.
A blinding green light exploded right over the Were-Bear’s heart as the Chi attack struck, killing him instantly. Anticipating what was to come after she got her first kill, she rolled forward and felt a breeze cast from the fauchard as it just missed shaving off the top of her head. As she came out of the roll, she realized that she had thrown herself right in the middle of three “light” enemies. One was an archer, and the other two were both healing types, though Liu couldn’t make out their exact classes or gear from a simple glance.
The Were-Bear was once more upon her before she could react and take advantage of her positioning, and a blurry motion that she caught out of the corner of her eye let her know that the Were-Rat was literally hurtling through the air and about to land on her. She had been level-capped for ages due to the fact that she was constantly being killed over and over while acting as the dungeon boss on Hesse, but thanks to the fact that he had been able to gain some actual experience over the past few weeks, she had also gained the accompanying leveling. She instantly activated one of the new skills that she had acquired along with those levels and hoped that she got the timing just perfect--a crucial part of the skill that she hadn’t really been able to practice yet.
It was a very difficult skill to use that required her to time it so that an incoming attack landed within a second of her completing the skill--something that was made even more difficult by the fact that the move took a full half-second charge up and caused her body to glow with a green light that warned the enemy to pull back and not strike. At the moment, however, it was perfect. The Were-Rat was midair, unable to alter his course, and the Were-Bear was beyond committed to his swing.
Golden Riposte! The skill activated, and she easily countered both of the blows with its help. With lightning speed and preternatural deftness, she parried the Were-Rat’s blade first, a diagonal slice aimed at the nape of her neck, by slapping the sword to the right and then stepping to the left and counter-attacking with a quick jab that sank into his shoulder. Her step also took her just out of the fauchard’s reach, and the attack that had been aimed at her chest swished by, coming up short. She instantly spun on her heel and lunged forward, this time nailing the Were-Bear in the chest.
Their bodies lit up with the glow of a healing spell, and Liu backed away feeling quite frustrated. Even though she had managed to time a difficult skill perfectly and land rather significant blows on both of them, all of that had been undone in the blink of an eye. She began backing through the open door while scanning the group for any potential move someone might make against her while preparing her next Chi-based move.
“Hans!” she yelled loudly as she used her unique skill Summon Combat Butler. Then, in an instant, the butler she had raised and trained over the years while playing as Lady Xun Guan appeared. A small pool-like portal appeared in the floor, and a figure clothed in a black three-piece butler’s uniform shot up from it. Hans was, more or less, nothing but a large male clone of her in terms of combat potential. He possessed every attack and skill that she did, but the key difference was that he only had 75% of her total stats and damage capability.
“You called, madam?” Hans asked. He tightened the white gloves on his hands as if he didn’t like the way they fit while eyeing the two thugs suspiciously.
“Could you handle one of them?” Liu asked as she backed up a step.
“Certainly,” Hans replied with a smile as he withdrew his own rapier. “Now, gentlemen, for the crime of pursuing my lady against her wishes, I must sincerely ask you to expire.”
The two beastkin overcame their initial shock caused by the summoned butler’s sudden appearance and pressed through the doorway. They both simultaneously unleashed their attacks, obviously trying to catch Hans off guard from two different angles, but just before the attacks struck, Hans activated Golden Riposte, the same skill that Liu had just used.
Liu took the opportunity to escape down the hallway and put even more distance between herself and the three men. She glanced back over her shoulder once she was about thirty feet away and saw that Hans’s left arm had been hacked off at the elbow, and a large patch of red showing through his torn uniform on his side indicated that he had suffered more than one grievous injury.
Satisfied with her distance, Liu activated Thrust of Dignity and charged back down the hallway. She watched as Hans executed another riposte, easily parrying the Were-Rat’s sword. Unfortunately, the Were-Bear seemed to have finally caught on, and he withdrew his thrust the moment he noticed the green glow around Hans. You first then, Liu thought as she adjusted her aim. She barely had enough time to correct her course, but the point of her blade shifted from its first target, the Were-Rat’s eye socket, and buried into the Were-Bear’s chest, just shy of piercing his heart and killing him instantly.
The Were-Bear howled in pain, but Liu didn’t let up. She took a step away from the large figure, simultaneously withdrawing the point of her rapier, and then thrust forward several more times, aiming for the same spot again and again. The Were-Bear wielded his fauchard like a quarterstaff and attempted to parry her blows, but it was useless. The long weapon was designed to be used from range, and while it had given him an advantage earlier, it was nothing but a liability now.
Its bulky form clum
sily scraped against the ceiling, preventing him from properly blocking her attacks and leaving him all the more vulnerable. Unable to stop Liu from attacking, it was only a matter of time before she finally managed to finish him off. The Were-Bear released one last great growl and plaintively looked back over his shoulder as if questioning where his support was. The light of the healing spell washed over him at last, but it was a moment too late to save him.
Once he was dead, she turned to see how Hans was doing. He wasn’t holding up well. The valiant butler had numerous wounds drawn across his body from where the Were-Rat had struck him, but he had successfully pulled his opponent down the hallway and even farther away from Liu. Even better, Hans had positioned himself so that only he had a clear view of Liu and the Were-Bear’s fight, leaving the rat’s back open to attack.
Good job, butler, Liu thought as she took advantage of the enemy’s turned back. She danced forward several steps, quickly closing the distance and thrusting at the back of his head.
“Coulson!” the Alfar healer shouted, causing the rat-eared man to turn his head around.
“Wha--”
The word never passed his lips before Liu’s rapier slid through his mouth and out the back of his skull.
I’m guessing she was going to tell him to duck, Liu thought wryly as she pulled her rapier free and watched the man’s body crumple into a limp pile. “Can you carry on?” she asked Hans.
“Death’s door is visible, but if flinging it open might impede my Lady’s attackers so that you are spared even a single injury, it would be my honor to carry on until the end,” he answered.
“No need for that.” Liu shook her head and began undoing the spell that had summoned the combat butler. The same small portal that he had originally sprung from appeared beneath his feet, and Hans silently disappeared back into the ether he had originally been summoned from. Even his splattered blood began disappearing, and within seconds, all evidence pointing to the fact that he had ever been there disappeared.